Sweet Sixteen
by greypolkadots
Summary: After walking in on their sixteen year old daughter in a compromising position, Alex and Arizona have to deal with the reality that their baby girl is growing up. September 2031.


A/N: I promised a one-shot about Alex and Arizona dealing with a teenage daughter awhile ago. Now that I'm somewhat settled after moving around the world, I finally had time to sit and put an idea onto paper. This is a whole other 'verse than my previous stories. I do have a mental back story and future for this 'verse in my head that might get put out through a series of one-shots, depending on reaction. Again, as with my other stories, this is an Alex and Arizona fanfic so if you don't want to read about this pairing, kindly just hit the back button on your browser. Thanks and enjoy!

Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy and its characters are owned by ABC and not me.

**...**

A shrill of an alarm ringing disturbed the peaceful early morning quiet. Arizona groaned and rolled over as she hit the alarm to turn it off. She knew that she had a five minute grace period before her home came alive for the day and she wanted to treasure the next five minutes of peace and quiet. The day before had been stressful and she wasn't ready to deal with the reality of a new day. Arizona blindly reached out for her husband. She wanted to get a quick cuddle in before the day started and they were pulled in different directions. But her hand only found cold sheets. Arizona sighed heavily. She didn't remember hearing a pager go off in the middle of the night and there were two sounds she always woke up to - a pager going off and her children's voices. Arizona peeked open an eye and saw a piece of paper laying on the empty pillow - _Gone to the gym. See you at work._ Arizona crumpled the paper up in her hand as the alarm sounded again signaling that it was time to get up for real. She didn't have time to waste. If Alex had already left for the day then she was all alone to wrangle their three children out of their beds and get them ready for school; and getting a teenager and tweens out of bed wasn't an easy task.

It was a feat but Arizona managed to get everyone off to school and herself to work on time. She was a little perturbed that she had been left to deal with the kids alone but she didn't blame her husband. He had taken the events of the day before particularly hard. She was glad that he was taking out his anger at the gym rather than letting it fester. He needed to be able to have a rational talk with their daughter that night and if he was still spooled up it would only end up with him being even more frustrated and with their daughter in tears again.

For Alex, the day had finally come. The day that he been dreading for over sixteen years. The day that he had to realize that his little girl wasn't so little anymore. He knew that she had been dating the same boy for over a month so it shouldn't have been that much of a shock but nothing could have prepared him for walking in on his daughter making out with a boy with her shirt off. He remembered the day she came home from the hospital like it had just happened. He didn't know how his five pound, eight ounce baby girl had gotten old enough to be kissing boys. In his opinion she would never be old enough to do that. His first response was to yell, then it was to ignore. He couldn't look at his daughter the rest of the night. He told her to go to bed while he holed himself up in his office. He barely said two words to his wife that night. He felt bad the he left her to clean up the emotional mess that was their daughter but he was afraid that he'd say something that would only make matters worse. He needed a day, and a trip to the gym, to cool off.

**...**

Arizona spent all day waiting to see her husband to see where his head was at but she kept missing him. When she was in surgery, he wasn't and vice-versa. She entered the cafeteria for lunch, hoping to see him already there but he was nowhere to be found. She grabbed a seat at their usual table and hoped that he would join her by the end of meal time.

"What's up with you today?" Teddy asked as she watched her best friend twirl the pasta on her plate without making any effort to eat it.

Arizona sighed and put her fork down, "Today I had to go to OB/GYN and get a script for birth control for my daughter who just turned sixteen two weeks ago."

"What?" Teddy asked shocked as she looked at Arizona's face to see if this was just a joke. She almost thought it was an April Fool's Day joke until she remembered that it was September.

The rest of the table that had all been involved in their own conversations suddenly found the one between Arizona and Teddy to be more interesting than their own.

"Alex came home from work yesterday and walked in on Abby and her boyfriend alone in her bedroom. They were on her bed with her shirt off. They were supposed to be studying math downstairs in the living room," Arizona didn't even try to hide what she had been going through that day. She had known everyone at the table for close to twenty years and most of them had all been through this before.

"Oh they were studying," Cristina snarked at Arizona. "Just biology and not math."

"What'd Alex do?" Meredith asked curiously. Knowing her friend, she was surprised that Alex wasn't currently in jail.

Arizona shrugged her shoulders, "All I know is that when I got home, Abby was in her room crying and Alex was in his office googling all-girl boarding schools."

"That explains his mood this morning," Meredith acknowledged and perked up when she saw him coming toward the table, "He doesn't look like it's improved either."

Alex huffed and put down his tray as he took a seat next to his wife. He picked up his hamburger and took a bite out of it with such force that if the cow wasn't already dead it would be when he was done with it.

"I hear you got an eyeful last night," Cristina verbally poked at her friend. She loved stirring up trouble when it came to Alex.

Alex glared at his wife for telling their friends about the problems in their home life. He knew it was difficult to keep things quiet amongst their friends but he hoped this would be one of them. "I'm not talking about it," he said after he finished swallowing his bite.

"Alex," Arizona sighed as she caressed Alex's thigh under the table. She hated seeing him so upset but he wouldn't talk to her so that she could help make things better.

Alex could feel his wife's eyes boring holes into his head but he wasn't ready to talk just yet - at least not with all of their friends around. Instead, the table got quiet and everyone finished their meals with only small chatter about their days filling the awkward silence in the air.

**...**

After lunch, Arizona didn't let Alex run away from her again. She had checked the OR schedule before lunch and saw that Alex didn't have a surgery for another two hours so she wouldn't let him use that excuse to get out of talking. She dragged him back to the office that they shared as co-heads of the pediatric surgical department. Alex stayed silent as they arrived at the office. Their secretary delayed Arizona with a few messages while Alex wandered into the office like a lost boy. His entire world felt like it had been turned upside down in the last eighteen hours and nothing made sense to him anymore.

When Arizona returned to the office and shut the door behind herself she found Alex staring at a picture of himself with Abby on his shoulders at the entrance to Disneyland. They both had matching smiles on their faces as well as matching Mickey Mouse ears. They had taken Abby there for her third birthday. They had been talking about having another baby and wanted one last family vacation with just the three of them.

Arizona wrapped her arms around Alex's waist and rested her head on his shoulder.

"When did she grow up?" Alex asked as he traced his fingers over the faded photo in the picture frame.

Arizona squeezed tighter around his waist, "I don't know."

Alex placed the picture back on the shelf and took a moment to gaze at the rest of the family photos on the shelf, "It seems like just yesterday she was telling me that boys had cooties."

"I got her birth control today. And condoms," Arizona said quietly as she took a seat on the couch.

Alex spun around quickly so that he was facing Arizona before he started pacing around the room. The thought of his daughter being on birth control was about to give him a panic attack, "You don't think she's having sex, do you?"

"No, I don't think so. Not yet at least," Arizona said as she pulled Alex onto the couch next to her. She needed to help try to calm him down. She didn't want him to have a heart attack on her. "But she's sixteen and if she's making out with Liam with her shirt off then sex probably isn't too far away and I'd rather make sure she's being safe than become a grandmother at fifty-two."

Alex flung his head against the back of the couch, "She's too young."

Arizona curled into Alex's body and he instinctively held her close, "She needs to know that you don't hate her."

Alex kissed the top of her head, "I don't hate her. I hate him. You didn't see it, Arizona. He had his nasty teenage boy hands all over our baby girl's body."

"As much as we don't like it, she's not a baby anymore," Arizona played with his fingers that were intertwined with hers.

"Hmph," Alex whined, not wanting to admit that his wife was right.

Arizona pushed off of his body so that she was looking in his eyes, "Since you revoked her driving privileges yesterday, I am taking off early to pick the kids up. I'll do the whole safe sex talk with her but you need to talk to her too."

Alex rolled his eyes. He didn't like the idea of talking to his daughter about sex. He had made Arizona give her the initial sex talk when Abby started asking questions about it. It wasn't that he didn't have a good relationship with his daughter as they had an excellent relationship - they just didn't talk about sex or boys; they talked about school, her friends and their shared love of Mariners baseball.

"She really does think you hate her, Alex," Arizona explained when her husband seemed to ignore her request to talk to their daughter about the incident.

"Fine," Alex acquiesced. He couldn't stand the thought of his daughter thinking that he hated her. He could never hate her. He might not like her decisions but he had loved her ever since he heard her heartbeat for the first time. She had him wrapped around her tiny pinky from the moment she was born and she knew it.

"And you won't make her cry again?" Arizona questioned. She knew her husband could sometimes be abrasive and their teenage daughter's mood swings needed this subject handled with sensitivity.

"Of course not. The boys have football practice tonight. I'll come home from work early and talk to her while you take them."

Arizona showed her appreciation for his willingness to talk with a kiss. "Thank you," she mumbled against his lips.

"Maybe you can really thank me later?" Alex asked with a wink as he leaned in for another, much steamier kiss.

Arizona laughed into the kiss, "You made me get all three kids up and ready for school by myself this morning. I think you need to thank me."

"Mmm," Alex moaned as Arizona nipped at his ear. "I can do that. But you better stop or I won't be able to concentrate the rest of the day because I know you're not going to put out right now."

Arizona pushed herself off of Alex's lap after one last kiss, "You've got that right. Being walked in on by the Chief? I'm not risking that again."

Alex laughed as he opened the door to the office and followed Arizona out into the bustling hospital, "You're the one that didn't lock the door, Dr. Robbins."

**...**

Arizona sighed as her hybrid SUV unloaded and all three kids ran into the house. She flung her bag over her shoulder and followed them inside. She was always surprised by just how fast they could all disperse once they got home from school. She was no more than two minutes behind her family but once she walked into the house she couldn't see any of her children. She could hear them though. She heard the boys loud footsteps running around upstairs. At twelve years old, they were endless balls of energy after school. She and Alex quickly learned that getting them to settle down and do their homework immediately after school was futile and instead they let them run their energy out first before requiring schoolwork. Arizona glanced around downstairs and also noticed that Abby was nowhere to be found. She typically took up residence at the kitchen table with a snack, her homework and her cell phone after school but the table was empty. Arizona looked at the clock on the wall and saw that she had a half hour before she needed to get the boys to practice. With a deep breath, she pulled the brown bag full of birth control and condoms out of her bag and went in search of her daughter.

Arizona tentatively knocked on her daughter's bedroom door. As the kids grew up and turned into teenagers, Alex and Arizona made every effort to respect their children's privacy. One way they did that was to let them have their own space in their bedrooms. They only enforced an open door policy when friends were over.

"Yeah?" Abby answered the knock, effectively giving her mother permission to come in.

Arizona gently pushed open the door and found Abby sitting up on her bed with her books sprawled out in front of her. As she was getting older, Abby was looking more and more like her mother. She was always her mother's daughter with her bright blonde hair and dimples but with age they became more and more alike. Over the summer she had a growth spurt and was officially a quarter of an inch taller than her mother. They both shared the same naturally lean build - except with Abby's teenage metabolism she was stick-thin; many times when they were out in public people thought they were sisters rather than mother and daughter. Alex always said that his inability to punish their daughter was because she looked just like her mother and he couldn't say no to the puppy dog eyes and pout on either one of them.

Arizona gave Abby a small smile as she entered the room. She grabbed the chair at Abby's desk and pulled it up next to Abby's bed.

"So," Arizona sighed. She really didn't want to have this conversation. Even though Alex was the one who was outwardly having a difficult time accepting their daughter growing up, Arizona was having an inner struggle. Abby was her baby. She was the first born. She was the one that taught them what unconditional love was all about and Arizona wasn't ready to face the fact that she was growing up - even when it was staring her in the face.

"Mom, we don't have to do this," Abby said, trying to avoid the awkward conversations she knew her mother was trying to have with her. "I get it. I shouldn't have had Liam upstairs in my room. I know I broke the rules. I'm sorry. I accept my punishment."

"Abbs, you know this isn't just about the rule breaking."

"Mom," Abby tried once again to end the conversation before it began. Talking about sex with parents was never comfortable and Abby had already been embarrassed enough last night.

Arizona put the brown paper bag on Abby's bed, "I got these for you today."

Abby took the bag and opened it up. She dropped it in shock after seeing the condoms and birth control in it, "Mom!" she screeched out and pushed the bag away from her. "I... I don't need those. I'm not having sex, Mom," Abby tried to get her mom from continuing the conversation. She thought if she just told her the truth her mother would stop.

"Abigail Barbara," Arizona chided her daughter. "If you are old enough to be kissing a boy in your bed with your shirt off then you need them. It doesn't take much to progress from shirt off to pants off and it takes a month for birth control to be effective."

"Mom, really, can we not talk about this?" Abby was begging at this point.

"No," Arizona shook her head. "We need to talk about this. I want you to start taking the birth control. Not that you taking it means I'm giving you permission to have sex, I just want you to be prepared for when you do. So please take it. Every day. At the same time. Set an alarm on your phone for every night before bed. And use the condoms too because birth control doesn't protect you from..."

"STDs," Abby finished her mom's sentence. "I know all about safe sex. My parents are doctors. All of your friends are doctors. I know this stuff."

"Just promise me that you'll start taking the birth control, please?" It was Arizona's turn to beg. She knew her daughter knew about having safe sex but Arizona also knew about teenage hormones and teenage stupidity and didn't want to see her daughter getting into trouble.

For the first time since Arizona walked into her bedroom, Abby finally made eye contact with her, "I promise."

"Good," Arizona let out a relieved smile. "This doesn't mean that you're not still grounded."

"I know."

"And your father will be talking to you later today too so please don't traumatize him any more than you already have. You almost gave him a heart attack yesterday."

Abby's face turned bright red when she found out that she'd have to talk to her father about all of this too. "Okay," she mumbled.

Arizona stood up and returned her chair back to its' proper place in the bedroom. Her daughter was just as much a neat freak as she was and knew it would bother her if everything wasn't in its' place. As soon as Arizona left the room, she found the nearest wall and rested against it. She took a deep breath. She was proud of herself. She had the talk with her daughter and survived. After a moment of silence she heard yelling and a crash coming from down the hall and had to go see what trouble her boys had gotten into.

**...**

Alex spent an extra half hour at the hospital than was necessary to avoid going home. He eventually left because he had promised his wife that he would talk to their daughter and if she came home with the boys from football practice and he hadn't done so, he would be sleeping on the couch that evening. The house was quiet when he walked in. He knew it would be though. The biggest noisemakers in the house were at practice and Abby lost phone privileges with her grounding. He was surprised to see Abby hanging out on the couch watching television when he came home. He figured she would be pouting and avoiding her parents all night because of the day before.

"Hey," Alex greeted his daughter as he took a seat next to her on the couch.

"Hi," Abby replied without taking her eyes off of the television.

"Where is everyone else?" Alex asked trying to make conversation even though he already knew the answer.

"Mom took Dumb and Dumber to football practice."

Alex rolled his eyes, "Don't call them that. You know better."

"Fine," it was Abby's turn to roll her eyes. "She took Matt and Drew to football practice."

Alex grabbed the remote and muted the TV causing Abby to look up at him. "Can we talk?"

Abby shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you last night." Alex thought by starting off with an apology, his daughter might thaw her frosty mood toward him.

Abby just gruffed in response. While she might look exactly like her mother, she was more like her father than most people thought. They both had the same interests; Abby was more likely to be found watching baseball than anything else on television. When she turned fifteen, Alex bought her a vintage car and together they rebuilt it so that it was ready for her sixteenth birthday. They also both kept their emotions bottled up inside. They were moody and quiet with a tendency to blow up when things finally got to them.

"I remember the day we brought you home from the hospital," Alex reminisced while Abby listened. "You were so tiny. I was afraid I was going to break you. You used to need me for everything. Now it seems like you don't need me for anything."

"I still need you," Abby said quietly.

"Just as your own personal ATM," Alex tried to joke but one look at his daughter showed him that she didn't find her dad funny. "I'm just saying that it's difficult for me to see you growing up. To me you're still that tiny baby girl in the pink blanket that would only fall asleep to my voice."

Abby looked up at her father and could see wetness in his eyes. She didn't like making her dad feel like that. He was her dad. He was tough and macho. He didn't cry. She needed to make him feel better. "I'm still that girl," she nudged him with her shoulder.

"You are but you're also much bigger. And older. You're sixteen. You're driving now. You're taking the SATs this year. When did I get old enough to have a kid that's taking the SATs?"

"Don't remind me," Abby shuddered as she thought about the test that her entire future hinged on.

"And you have a boyfriend now too," Alex added. "You used to tell me that you wanted to marry me."

Abby scrunched up her face, "Gross."

"You did."

"I was four, Dad. I didn't know any better."

Alex was happy that he was able to have a decent conversation with his daughter. As she entered the teenage years it became harder and harder to have a conversation that didn't involve the latest in pop culture. He decided he needed to just put it all out on the table, "You might be sixteen and taking the SATs soon but you're not old enough to be having sex. I know your mom got you some... things... today but that doesn't mean that you're ready."

Abby cringed when her dad said the word sex but she after the talk with her mother she had done some thinking and she was ready to turn the tables on her parents. "How old were you when you first had sex?"

"Fifteen," Alex said honestly. He and Arizona had always been one hundred percent truthful with their kids about their pasts and he wasn't about to start lying even if it didn't help his case. "But I was a really dumb kid. Not a smarty-pants like you are."

"How old was Mom?" Abby felt like pushing her luck.

Alex didn't want to answer for Arizona without her there but he knew that Abby wanted an answer. "She was eighteen, I think."

"But that's when she liked girls only, right? I bet if she liked boys it would have been younger - like at sixteen," Abby wondered aloud.

"I can't answer that, Abbs. The what if game doesn't work like that."

"So, you're telling me that I'm too young to have sex but you were having sex at fifteen?" Abby challenged her father.

Alex groaned inwardly but he knew his daughter had a point, "Yes, I am. I was a jerk for most of my life - especially towards girls. Until you and your mother changed me. To me sex was just sex. I didn't attach any feelings to it. But you, you feel everything. You have such empathy for everyone, except your brothers, and I love that you have such a big heart which is why I don't want you rushing into this."

"I'm not going to rush into it. I'm not having sex with Liam, Dad. No matter what you saw yesterday."

A flash of Abby in her bra with Liam's hands on her glowed in his mind. He wanted to tell her that she couldn't have sex until she was thirty but he knew that wouldn't help things. "Just... just be sure. Okay?"

"Yes, Dad," Abby answered him dutifully.

"And use those...things...that your mother gave you."

"Yes, Dad," Abby agreed again. Silently she was happy that her father was just as uncomfortable with the topic of conversation as she was.

"Okay," Alex sighed in relief that the conversation was over.

Abby sighed too. The conversation wasn't as awkward as she thought it was going to be but it was still awkward. She looked at the clock and saw that her mother and brothers were due home soon so she went into phase two of what she planned when her mother left. She needed to sweet talk her father.

She scooted up closer to her father and rested her head on his shoulder, "Dad? Am I still grounded?"

Alex let his arm drape around her shoulder. It was the same position he had her mother in earlier in the day. "Yes," he answered as he kissed the top of her head.

"But we were supposed to go to the game this weekend," Abby said quietly. Going to the Mariners' baseball games were something that she and her father had been doing since she was a newborn. She knew that he would hate to leave her behind but if her mother was around, he wouldn't be able to say that she could go.

Alex paused to think for a moment. He really wanted to change the terms of her punishment so that she could go but he knew Arizona would be upset with him if he did so. "Grounded people don't get to go to baseball games, kiddo. But I might see about getting tickets to next weekend's game instead."

"Really?" Abby smiled and looked up to her father.

Alex nodded, "Yes, but the rest of your punishment still stands. You're grounded for the rest of the week. No phone. No driving. And no having Liam in the house without supervision for the next month. And I'm totally driving your car to work the next week while you can't."

"Daaaad," Abby whined. "That's not fair. That's my car."

"That I paid for," Alex interrupted. "Plus, it's way cooler than my car."

Just then Alex heard the front door fling open and the boys' rushed in to tell their father all about football practice. Arizona followed them and was happy to see that everyone was still alive in her house. She wasn't sure what to expect when she got home but she didn't expect to see them both smiling and even cuddling together on the couch. She had meant to go start dinner when she got home but seeing her whole family laughing in the living room made her want to order pizza and join them instead.

**...**

"I'm so glad today is over," Arizona sighed as she slipped into bed next to Alex who was reading.

Alex took his reading glasses off and put the book on his nightstand before wrapping Arizona up in his arms, "Me too."

"When did we get this old?" Arizona asked rhetorically. "I want my babies back. At least the boys are more interested in football than girls right now."

Alex tried not to laugh, "I'm pretty sure I watched both of them flirting with girls when I picked them up from school the other day."

"No way," Arizona refused to believe him. "They're still my babies who told me that they wanted to live with me forever."

"They're almost thirteen, sweetheart," Alex reminded his wife gently.

"Don't make them older than they are. They just turned twelve," Arizona shook her head as she rested on Alex's chest. "No way is it possible that we're going to have a house full of teenagers in less than a year."

Alex ran his hand up and down Arizona's back, "This is why you should have agreed to another baby. Then we would still have one more innocent child not just crazy hormone-filled teenagers."

"Ha," Arizona laughed sarcastically. "If we didn't get a two for one deal that might have happened. But now we're old and it's too late."

"Mmm," Alex let his hands slip down Arizona's back and toward her ass. Alex moved his mouth to her ear, "We might be older but we are not old and I will prove it to you."

Arizona giggled as Alex flipped her onto her back. She was content to let Alex prove to her that she wasn't as old as she felt after a day of dealing with their teenage daughter. They were both happy to forget about their crazy teenagers and act like a pair of love-crazed teenagers themselves, if for only a night.

**...**


End file.
